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What izzit?· Psychohistory may be defined as the application of formal psychological models in historical research. The modern field known as psychohistory is usually dated from the appearance of Freud's book on Leonardo (1910), although the term psychohistory did not come into use until the 1960s.…read more

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Melanie Klein· Witchcraft, grief and the Ambivalence of Emotions.· In this article, I argue that Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theory of mourning can shed new light on an old anthropological topic: witchcraft and sorcery. Beginning with sociocentric analyses of sorcery and witchcraft, and linking these beliefs to the experiential context of grief and bereavement, I focus on two ethnographic case studies--Balinese witchcraft and Mekeo sorcery. I use Klein's theory of mourning to extend Freud's concept of the ambivalence of emotions in order to show how unresolved childhood fears and images of (he destructive mother give rise to persecutory fears at the death of a loved person. From this perspective, several problems left hanging by sociocentric and structuralist approaches to witchcraft and sorcery can be answered in new ways, [ambivalence, grief, Melanie Klein, mourning, sorcery, witchcraft· In particular, his assumption that witchcraft is responsible for his predicament, according to Melanie Klein's analysis of manic-depressive states,8In particular, his assumption that witchcraft is responsible for his predicament, according to Melanie Klein's analysis of manic-depressive states,8 firmly locates his paranoia in a form of infantile dread, while his focus on career advancement brings together ego- and object-idealization in movement which acts as a deflection from sexuality and suggests that he…read more